Duffers unite

Like the Rangers, for those of you who trade in your sticks for clubs come spring, perhaps you’d enjoy our live chat at noon today previewing the U.S. Open. It’s at lohud.com/protalklive. Just thought I’d pass it on.

I think at 19 Duchene is obviously gone. Kassian could POSSIBLY be around, although not likely. Really, as I said the other day, our best bets are Ashton (long shot), or Caron.

Whatever he does, he better not take another defenseman. We are so thin at forward right now and so overflowing with defensive prospects (as well as Redden and Rozsi’s contracts) that the kid wouldn’t see the Garden ice for at least 4 years, unless he jumps one of our other prospects, which would make said prospect a bust (I’m looking at you Sanguinetti).

Really, we need wings. We have Dubinsky and Anisimov in the middle, not to mention Drury and Gomez’s monstrous contracts, Blair Betts’ penalty killing, and Lauri Korpikoski who can also play in the middle. On Defense, Rozsi, Redden, Staal, Girardi, Potter, Gilroy, MDZ, Sanguinetti, Sauer, and potentially Mara or Morris.

But look at our wings: Avery, Callahan, and Zherdev/Antropov. Those are the only wings on our team with a history of putting the puck in the net (and Avery’s history still lacks a 20 goal season). Korpikoski has some potential, but was very unimpressive last year. PA Parenteau is the only wing in Hartford worth a damn, but I think he’ll just end up being another Krog. We have Grachev, but he was in juniors, and for right now, is all potential. Even if Grachev has NHL success, that still leaves us woefully thin on the wing. Losing Cherepanov was a BIG hit. It’s by far the thinnest spot in the organization and needs to be addressed immediately. If Slats drafts anything other than a winger in the first round (unless by some miracle we have one of the top 5 picks fall into our laps, none of whom play the wing) then this draft will be a failure.

If they really twisted my arm, I’d probably even take Kelly with Rozsi instead of Redden, but not without first talking to Dolan and telling him that this guy is going to sit in the minors his entire contract. If Jimmy doesn’t want to pay that to him to play in Hartford, then the deal is off.

Haven’t been here the last few days Doodie, but I’m with you- think there is a potential match here and this is the kind of guy in his prime that everyone talks about us lacking. I don’t think I would include Staal in a deal- but pretty much anyone else I think is touchable for him.

Doodie – we have to draft a winger, we have nothing down on the farm, other than Grachev who is still only in juniors.
Zack Kassian or Carter Ashton for me, although most mock drafts have them gone (#12,#16) before we get to pick at #19.

We also have to more than kick the tires on Heatley, we may have to lose more than Roszi, a 1st rounder and a couple of prospects to get him.

UK, a lot of teams will be looking for puck moving d-men. That might push one or both of Kassian and Ashton down to us. If Kassian is on the board 3 or 4 spots ahead of us, I’d consider trading up to get him, like we did with Marc Staal. I wouldn’t trade up for Ashton.

Also, ranked #20 among N.A. skaters is Jordan Caron. 6’2″ 196 lbs, 36 goals in 56 games in QMJHL. He is the fallback guy that will be on the board that we should take if/when Kassian and Ashton aren’t available.

UK, what we can offer is something a lot of other teams can’t: we can eat salaries. IF Dolan were willing to spend a little money, we can eat Chris Kelly’s contract in Hartford. If we do that, then Ottawa would be able to have cut a terrible contract from their books, a big plus for them in trying to find that secondary scoring they so desperately need and starting the process of them getting it by sending them Zherdev and Antropov’s rights.

Maybe we can send them a goaltending prospect like Zaba or Wiikman too since they are organizationally thin at that position. They have Brian Elliot, but if he doesn’t pan out, they are completely devoid of any depth.

Ottawa isn’t dealing from a position of strength. They have to get a deal done before July 1 for a multitude of reasons:

1) they have to pay Heatley 4 million, which I am sure they want to avoid
2) once free agency starts, teams will start signing players, tying up their cap space and limiting the room they would have to take on Heatley.
3) If no deal is made before free agency, it limits Ottawa’s capabilities to address what their post-Heatley trade needs will be. Suppose they get some forwards for Heatley, then they could sign defensemen. If they got defensemen, they could sign forwards. Either way, Ottawa’s hands will be ties until Heatley is dealt.
4) They’re likely going to have to accept a three dimes for a quarter deal. The only players that teams are thinking of moving that could even be considered in this kind of deal are Vinny Lecavalier and Patrick Marleau. Vinny is out of the question since Tampa needs defense and Ottawa won’t have the cap money to pay him. Marleau is out because they already have a lot of depth in the middle, and will instead need to replace Heatley’s spot on the wing.

The team I think that has the best chance of getting him is the Kings. How’s this for a trade:

Jack Johnson and Alexander Frolov for Heatley. I’d say LA is overpaying a bit in that scenario, so maybe Ottawa sends Jason Smith to even out the deal and help them clear some cap space.

OTT has Pascal Leclaire in their goaltending ranks. The former CBJs goalie who was the incumbent before Steve Mason showed up in Columbus. Leclaire is a very good goalie when healthy, and should be either their starter or 1B type goalie, assuming he is fully recovered from his latest injury (hip surgery).

OTT picked up Leclaire near the deadline last season. Antoine Vermette for Leclaire was the deal, if my memory serves me correct.

$4m is pocket change for the NYR ownership. If Slats can get Heatley without giving up too much, and if that $4m is just a separate $ requirement, then I say give an extra $4m under the table to get a proven sniper on this team!

You guys are nuts if you think the Rangers are going to pick up Heatly’s contract at 7.5 million a year thru the 2013-2014 season.

They just don’t have the money.

Where are they going to find the money to sign the good young players in the organization to long term contracts before they become unrestricted free agents? How do you offer Dubi, Cally and Stall the money they will be worth in 3 or 4 years? How do you even match an offer from another team now, never mind adding Heatley’s 7.5 million to the mix?

The reason the team is in such a mess is because of the monstrous long term contracts that have them at the salary cap.

This season the NHLPA will vote to increase the cap by 5% but the following seasons it is supposed to be going down.

They can’t keep throwing 6 or 7 million dollars at players.
Where is the incentive?

It just doesn’t work for them.

Maybe they can waive Redden and eat his 6.5 million while he rots at Hartford. But signing Heatley would just put them back to where they are now, only a million worse.

Doodie Machetto
June 17th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
UK, what we can offer is something a lot of other teams can’t: we can eat salaries. IF Dolan were willing to spend a little money, we can eat Chris Kelly’s contract in Hartford.

thats all dolan and sather do is spend money. too much money. forget another contract we have to pay for in hartford. thats why they have to raise the damn ticket prices so high to cover up for their ridiculous spending.

downeaster- the difference is that Heatley really is worth 7.5 million. As many people have rightfully pointed out there is really no way for the Rangers to get a player like this- they aren’t making it to free agency anymore. Guys in their prime are getting locked up unless they have Gaborik like injury issues. Plus, we really do have the opening in the cap with Nazzy retiring and getiting rid of Z- How much $ do you think Callahan and Duby will command? I don’t see more than 3 mil for either-

fly line- i was writing a post almost exactly what you said. so im gonna leave it at what you just stated. the naz retirement only leaves 1.5m though i think. forgot why, but im pretty sure we could get cally signed for that much. doobs cant ask for much more and thank god he didnt have a huge year or wed be screwed. so it was a blessing in disguise that he had all those scoreless streaks

Heatley’s numbers have declined significantly the last three seasons. You guys are looking at the quick, feel good fix that has always plagued the Rangers.

Yeah, Heatley’s worth it. and so was Gomez, Drury and Redden. And Holik, and Kalinen, and Voros and Rissmiller and Rucinsky and Lindros and Naslund and well, do you get my drift.

The team is in this mess because they have to throw a pile of money at a new free agent or two because the free agents they signed the year before sucked.

You are not keeping an eye out for guys like Grachev and Staal and Dubi and Cally and DelZotto and others long term. Should they develop into the players we all hope they will be, what are going to be able to pay them after their current and/or new contracts are up? This would handicap that effort.

We would still have, at the start of the 2011-2012 season
over 42 million obligated to 7 players: Redden, Heatley, Roszival, Gomez, Drury, Avery and Lundqvist.

That would leave, at a cap of lets say 60 million, just 18 million to divide among the other 15 or 16 players on the NHL roster. What do you think Staal or Dubi or Cally could be worth a season in a few years? What happens if a few of our draft choices develop into real studs in a couple of years? What if Grachev and Anisimov score 40 apiece 2 years in a row? Think other teams would offer them a bundle and the Rangers could not afford to match? The first time the team has built a solid group of players through the draft and they can’t keep some of them because they can’t afford the cap hit?

Yeah, that is a lot of what ifs. But 42 million plus is a major handicapped certainty. thats a lot of jack, Jack.

Those that do not learn from their past mistakes are doomed to repeat them.

Id love to get Heatley if we can send Dreary, and either Rozi or Redden out of Ny. But good ol’ Captain Clutch screws is like always. He wont leave.

Unless we can get him to waive his NTC to go to LA since he has a lot of friends down there, and a house. Id love to get Frolov of Johnson from them. But dreams don’t come true, especially for Nyr fans.

PJ, yes, I knew they had Leclair. Leclaire will be their starter, but the guy is just an OK goaltender. Personally, I don’t think he is much of an upgrade over Alex Auld. So my point is they are lacking the potential for that great goaltender. I’m not saying Wiikman or Zaba have that kind of potential written all over them, but they have it more than Leclaire at this point.

Downeaster, Heatley isn’t a free agent. We would have to trade for him. Please see my suggested trade above of

Rozsi (5million), Zherdev (2.5 this year, but he is RFA so I think his qualifying will be close to 3), and Sanguinetti (no cap hit for us this past year) for Heatley (7.5) and Smith (2.6). That’s 8 million for us going and 10.1 coming back.

So we aren’t adding another 7.5 to our books, only 2.1. And if we are hurting for cap space, we can bury Smith in Hartford, freeing up 2.6 million. And/or we can bury Voros’ million.

As for Heatley not being worth it, you are dead wrong. He’s scored 50 goals twice, forty goals twice, and fell just one goal short of 40 last season. Yeah, he had a bad season last year, but so did his entire team. And look: a bad season by his standards was still better than every single player on our team in goals and points.

Heatley isn’t some 2nd liner trying to be propped up as a first. This guy is a first liner on every single team in the league with the exception of maybe 2.

Understand what you are saying down, but respectfully disagree- Our team is in no man’s land right now- we aren’t good enough to really contend and aren’t bad enough to acquire high end talent in the draft…I don’t think that because the Rangers made some mistakes with big ticket guys that you should be gun shy when a good fit emerges. That is the Mets post Mo Vaughn phillosophy, which was in itself a disaster- We agree that the future of this team depends on guys like Staal, Dubi, Grachev, DelZ- but young players don’t make as much as you are implying they do. We also have more options than you let on. Rosival’s contract is movable- there is a buyout/hartford option for Redden (the worst contract of the bunch) but I wouldnt say we 100% will be stuck with those guys in 2010-2011 let alone 2011-2012.

The Rangers should dissolve the franchise and re-establish an new one, then they’ll get the number 1 pick.
They stick with the same name,or move the team to a new stadium in the bronx or long island (temporarily )when the sticks move to KC, while they build a new msg innyc or the bx or somewhere else.

.. maybe Ottawa has really bad scouts scouts (read: blind) and want to replace Heatley’s contract with Drury (hehe) .. I think Heatley is a legit player with size and a real scoring touch….if Frolov is cheaper (cap and/or players req’d to get him), I would look at him.. I know it is tough, but something needs to be done to get pucks in the net.

I havent been a fan of most of the big money UFA contracts signed over the last three years.. honestly, I thgt Voros was going to be a really good role player, and he was… for 8 games!